BY MEKETE ABEGAZ
Amnesty International as one of the Trojans of the 21st C Hypocrites, the WEST, it has come out with the report that accuses Ethiopia among other things on rape of women and girls with title: Women and girls in Tigray were targeted for rape and abduction. It has used strong colorful expressions to make their point as appealing as possible.
While the purpose of the Amnesty’s report is clear —i.e., to cloud the recent massacre of 240 innocent civilians, including children, in Afar State, GaliComa. The fact is that the GaliComa massacre is both unforgettable and unforgivable.
Having said, let’s resort to the central issue of this piece of work. Amnesty’s report in the first place is so bizarre to most, if not all, Ethiopians. As the organization wants to hook the attention of the international community into its fake story, it has done grave error. Any sane mind that is familiar with the culture and tradition of Ethiopia proves this assertion right. Let alone making sex in public, in front of family…, even married people are very shy to discuss matters related to sex in public. It is not something to discuss openly. This can have its own merit and demerit when one looks into it from cultural perspective.
Though there are undeniable rape acts here and there, the people, 90% of whom religious never tolerate rape cases. When it happens there are some consequences. Of course, the country can always do better. In this piece too, our stand is serious on the matter. No one should be allowed to rape a girl or a woman. However, using fake stories as a political weapon or trying to humiliate a nation in the name of human rights is not acceptable. The following are our reasoning to reject the biased report of the organization.
First, it should be known that the case of raping girls and woman was a grave issue even before the terrorist TPLF attacked the Ethiopian National Defense Forces that dragged the federal government into the current law enforcement operation.
There were series of programs on the regional Tigray TV dedicated to such a cause. It was a pattern that girls and women were experiencing such abuse and the data was high.
Actually, in a society where such things are taboo, the exact figure of the incidents and attacks were not reported accurately. When one looks through the prism of the Ethiopian culture in general and if there was a rape done in public, then it leads us to do more and more investigations.
It has been widely reported that the terrorist TPLF has made the youth that it use an cannon fodder to be addict to some substances. Hence, it is highly likely for the terrorist group members to involve in such heinous crimes.
Second, after the conflict, the local government was not functioning well as the terrorist group had been killing and abducting members of the administration.
In the absence of rule and law, the cases of abusing and raping woman will not be reduced. In fact it will be exponential unless the local people try to reorganize themselves to stop such misdeeds.
Third, after the defeat by the central government’s army in December, the terrorist TPLF bosses have released notorious prisoners into the society. Imagine, among the tens of thousands of prisoners, if only 5% are engaged in such behavior, it is enough to create such ugly scenario in the region. The one who releases prisoners has done it by design. So the blame should at least include this body.
Fourth, after fleeing from Mekele, and hiding in the mountains and gorges parts, the remnants of TPLF and the diaspora wing of TPLF have tried to manipulate the international world using mis-information, dis-information and Mal-information. It is possible to provide plenty of such examples. These bodies of people know the western society’s sensitive codes to convince them to their side. They are crafty manipulators. Since it is a means of struggle for them, creating such incidents is also part of the game. After all, a lot of men are being sacrificed in the war, including kids and old people. So sacrificing some girls and women in order to get what they want may be one strategy. The body who reports this should have considered if such atrocities are done by these ruthless people. As it is well known, dictators always abuse their own people.
Fifth, the Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers are the ones who are reported to do such crime. The governments are looking into this allegation. If such incidents are verified then the respective governments must act swiftly. But there is one ironic thing, Ethiopian army was there for about 2 decades with people. And it is witnessed by themselves that the army is world class and disciplined, including in its engagement at many international duties.
Sixth, the people who are engaged at Amnesty International, who are gathering the data, who are giving the information, and those who compile the report might be biased for some reason. The credibility of the people who gave the witness should be verified well. Humans also make errors either deliberately or unknowingly. If you do not like the present government, and if you had a great affection for the TPLF-led government system, then you are by default biased to one and your study is not validated.
One of the sources of the error can be the way the data is collected. If your data is 70% collected by calling the very people who were involved in some way, your result, analysis, and conclusion is wrong. You have the right to write whatever you want. But if you are biased, your reports are biased. You do not need to know rocket science. It is as simple as that.
Seven, the timing Amnesty released this report is alarming. The past few weeks the terrorist organization TPLF was engaged in genocide act in Afar and it has terrorized many people in Amhara region, while the government declared unilateral ceasefire.
And the people of Ethiopia have come together to crush the terrorist organization and Amnesty seems to give moral support to the terrorist TPLF by controlling the narrative. This makes Amnesty a biased organization.
In General, this report lacks credibility. Actually, there is a saying in Ethiopia, አያ ጅቦ ሳታማሃኝ ብላኝ, it means Mr hyena take me without excuse. As Amnesty International is considered as the westerners’ Trojan to humiliate other nations and societies, this might be a pretext to put pressure on the government to subdue the interests of the WEST. This is not a fair assessment to the Ethiopian people and government, in our sight. It is all about “in whose eyes” do you observe and judge. First remove that thing which hinders you to see clearly, then you can assess the situation.
The truth of the matter is that girls and women should not be abused! Period. But to accuse without credible study is abuse by itself. We recommend that Amnesty international check its workers who collected data around this matter, since they may be the very people of TPLF.
The Ethiopian Herald August 13/2021
